Traveling With a 7 Month Old

If you have been following my posts, you are well aware that I was freaking out to put it lightly about Parker's first trip on the plane. In her 7 months of life she has yet to have an ear infection, which I thank her lucky stars each night for because is there anything worse than a baby with throbbing ears? It makes me ache just thinking about it. Anyways, I was insanely worried about Parker's ears hurting bothering her from all the pressure on the plane. I read... and read... and read so many articles about travelling with a baby. About what to do on take off and landing, what to dress them in, what to bring with you, etc etc. I left the house the morning of our trip feeling pretty prepared.

WHAT WE PACKED

We shipped a lot of our things down to make the navigation through the airports a little easier. Matt's parents found a company that rents out super nice (and clean) baby equipment. They graciously rented a pack-and-play, bouncer, and a few other items so that we didn't have to worry about shipping ours down. If you re reading this, thank you again, Nana and Baba! Among the items we shipped were our clothes, bedding for the pack-and-play and the breast pump. We checked the car seat/base as well as a suitcase that held cosmetics, shampoo, yaddayadda. We packed Parker's diaper bag full of diapers, wipes, extra clothes (she is the QUEEN of inconvenient blowouts), a book, a few of her favorite toys as well as one of my her favorite stroller blankets to cuddle and cover up with on the flight. In reality we would have been fine with just bringing along one diaper, wipes, and a blanket since she was fascinated by my water bottle for an hour of the flight and slept the other hour, but it doesn't hurt to come prepared!

WHAT SHE WORE
I insisted that we get the seat in the very last row of the plane just in case she was fussy so that we didn't annoy any of the passengers. As it turns out, that wasn't necessary either. Plus when we looked out the window we could only see the engine. It is the weirdest feeling not being able to see where you are when they are landing the plane. I can't tell you how many times I thought we were going to touchdown before we actually did, my body felt like it was bracing for an hour. I was sure I was going to get dirty looks from a lot of people thinking that they had to sit next to a probable crying baby, but everyone seemed to enjoy her just as much as she enjoyed them! I dressed Parker in a plain white long sleeve onesie and leg warmers which was the optimum outfit for changing her diaper on the plane. We didn't have to worry about taking off her pants, dropping the pants on the dirty floor, having someone tip over their coffee which would then spill on her pants, leaving us with a cold legged cranky baby.

THE FLIGHT
I nursed Parker during take off and landing and she slept, smiled at old men and played with her water bottle for the remainder of the flight. There was a one year old sitting across the aisle from us throwing fits and I kept looking at Parker expecting her to catch wind and chime along, but she would just look back at me with her big open mouth smile and continued playing with her sock. Also to add to this success story, she didn't have a blowout the entire flight! That is a huge feat coming from the girl who blew out of her pristine white gown minutes before her baptism.

The trip home, I was much more confident knowing what to expect, and we did get a seat near a window so that she could look at the clouds. She got fussy a couple times during the flight but calmed right back down when we fed her. Also, she kept starring at the guy next to us who wouldn't for the life of him look in her direction. To say she was skeptical of him is an understatement.

My takeaways from our first flight with the baby are as follows. Nursing/feeding during takeoff and landing I think really helped with the pressure. She didn't fuss once and it is an easy way to make sure that she is sucking in that time frame. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I practiced changing her on my lap. Easy access to diapers and wipes was essential. If you can in any way take your baby pant less, whether it be with leggings or a dress, do it! It really made changing a breeze. Lastly, relax. I was so concerned about disturbing the people sitting next to us that I was stressing myself out. It only took 5 minutes before I stopped worrying, and started focusing on Parker's new experiences.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to bringing up a child. We usually turn to our go-to method of winging it and things typically turn out pretty well. I think it's important to just go with what you know works and what feels right for both you and your baby. Hopefully this post was able to help some of you with your first trips with the little ones in tow.

Here's to surviving Parker's first flight!